Mixed-martial-arts fighter Sergio Salcido and his friend and coworker, Kevin Joel Romero, were killed early Monday morning at a border crossing in Tijuana, Mexico.

The Americans were gunned down while sitting in a pickup truck at the San Ysidro border crossing on the way to their jobs at West Coast Beverage Maintenance in San Diego.

Fellow MMA fighter Dominique Robinson, whom Salcido saw as a mentor, told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) his friend was only living in Mexico because the MMA industry had failed him so many times.

The “San Diego Union Tribune” cited a Mexican law-enforcement source who said Salcido and Romero apparently were targeted by an assailant who approached on foot between the lines of vehicles, fired his weapon and fled. They were shot in the head, chest and arms, according to the report. Officials aren’t sure of the motive.

Robinson said Salcido lived in Mexico as the result of broken promises – which have been a recurring theme during the Gladiator Challenge and Tachi Palace Fights veteran’s six-year career.

“He couldn’t get help,” an emotional Robinson told MMAjunkie.com. “The reason he was moving everywhere is because of promises, and they were empty promises. Everyone lives in their bubble, and they ignore what’s going on.

“These sponsors only help the people who made it. These promotions, they show favoritism and put in who they want to and [expletive] over people. Trainers don’t train people if they’re not big names. It’s all the stuff I went through. Sergio left Bakersfield for San Diego for the promise of a team and coaches and fighting more, the prospect of these things that people were telling him.

“I remember when he got to San Diego and none of it was going his way, he’d always talk to me about how depressed he was.”

When Salcido first told Robinson, a self-trained and self-managed fighter who’s faced many of the same hurdles, about his plans to move to Mexico, he tried to talk the fighter out of it. He had seen Salcido, who was planning to get engaged to be married, slipping away as his career stalled, and he thought the move could have negative results.

But he never imagined it’d take his life.

“When he moved there, I told him, well – look, he’s a kid,” Robinson said. “He gets down on himself and drinks and is out at clubs. That’s how he handles stuff. I tried everything in my power to get him to move in with me. I don’t have a lot of money, but I have a house. I tried to get him to move. I told him, ‘I don’t think you should be there because you might get killed or something.'”

“Now, it’s about two years after I said that. He went there for MMA, it failed him, and he [expletive] got stuck there. And now he’s dead. He’s dead. He wouldn’t have been there if MMA didn’t fail him. … Nobody can change my mind about it because I talked to the guy everyday.”

Robinson, though, doesn’t mean to disparage the entire industry. He said there are plenty of good people involved, including the many fans who spread word of Salcido’s untimely death via Twitter in hopes more media outlets would cover it. Sure, Salcido owns a mere 4-5 record. But he’s a member of the community, and he’s fought notables such as Poppies Martinez, Sako Chivitchyan and Doug Hunt.

However, Robinson said the sport isn’t the close-knit community it used to be.

“His story needs to be [expletive] heard,” Robinson said. “He’s a worst-case scenario of what not being helped and no one caring can do. It used to be the fans and everyone cared so much that they kept MMA going when it got taken off cable. And it went from that to this?

“My grandma used to say everyone lost their sense of community. I was like, ‘What is she talking about?’ But as I got older, I got it.”

Ultimately, he hopes Salcido’s tale can serve as a wake-up call to others.

“You can’t help everybody,” Robinson said. “It’s a utopian ideology to think everyone can be helped. But these [organizations] can help some people. They can help some people. If you see a person working hard and they really want it, you can’t help them? These sponsors – they’re sponsoring thousands and thousands of dollars to fighters who have thousands and thousands of dollars. But they can’t help a normal guy who they see trying to do it?

“I understand where he was coming from. There were so many times I was going to quit, and I’m a strong person. I support me, I help my mom, I’m a single dad and everything, and I was going to quit. I was close to [expletive] going nuts. I was thinking of doing crazy [expletive] because I was so depressed over MMA and everything. So can you imagine a weaker person like Sergio? He was just a kid. He was still learning about life and everything. He’s a good kid.”

That’s why, Robinson said, it’s such a tragedy that Salcido was forced away from his home simply in hopes of chasing his dream.

“He was somewhere he never should have been,” Robinson said. “He should have never been there.”

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